Review: Hyundai Elantra is a high-end 'economy' car
The epiphany came at the end.
Sonata's swoopiness is downsized well in the Elantra.
Junior was making a show of luxuriating in the heated rear seats and Dad was eyeballing the backup camera view to ease into a spot.
Heated back seats? Rearview camera? In an "economy car"?
Yes, if it's the redesigned 2011 Hyundai Elantra compact. The high-end test car featuring those premium items had a window-sticker price of $22,110.
For that, you also got perforated leather upholstery, XM satellite radio, proximity key with push-button start, 17-inch diameter alloy wheels, sunroof — an upscale vehicle that happened to have a compact size and price.
Not that twenty-two grand is dirt-cheap, but nowadays, it's better than reasonable for a car equipped as the tester was.
Too much stuff and money for you? You can drop all the way to $15,550 for the bare bones Elantra GLS with manual gearbox and no air conditioning.
Elantra, remade from the ground up less than 41/2 years after the previous generation was launched in the U.S., is arguably Hyundai's most important vehicle. It's the hard-charging South Korean car company's weapon in the ever-fiercer compact-sedan market, against such marquee troops as Honda Civic and Ford Focus, both with redesigns due this spring.
The compact market, already the second-best-selling category after midsize sedans, is expected to boom as tightening federal fuel-economy rules all but dictate smaller, lighter cars with smaller engines. Too, there's a sense among car companies — not necessarily shared by industry analysts — that Americans crave smaller, cheaper vehicles to better suit their budgets and assuage eco-guilt.
There were no bare-bones Elantras available at the Philadelphia-area test session, but a midlevel GLS with automatic transmission was just as satisfying to drive and comfortable as the high-end Limited Premium model.
Hyundai has applied the midsize Sonata's sweeping look to the compact Elantra, and the smaller car wears it surprisingly well. Often, such dramatic styling doesn't scale down well, looking stubby and truncated. Elantra escapes that.
The interior felt roomier than expected, and the rear seat comfortably holds adults, attributes that soften the main objections to small cars.
Also of note, plus and minus:
•Electric power steering. Hard for automakers to tune right, but Hyundai nailed it.
•Brakes. Not spongy, wimpy-feeling, as you find on too many cars today. Solid-feeling, confidence-inspiring, and — Hyundai claims — more effective stopping than rivals' systems.
If so, and Hyundai provides data to back the claim, that's because Elantra has disc brakes front and rear standard, while some others put older-design drum brakes in back and make you pay extra for rear discs.
•Comfort. Lots of it, not only because careful tailoring inside makes Elantra feel a bit bigger, but also because the seats don't poke your back with ill-advised and badly executed lumbar adjustments or feel filled with rocks instead of foam.
The ride quality was good enough most of the time, but a bit slam-bam on potholed roads.
•Gauges, controls. Main instruments were big, easy to read, sensible. But controls were needlessly confusing, slaves to the designer look.
The radio, for instance, lacked the simple pair of knobs — volume and tuning — that remain the best solution. Instead, volume's in the middle, as is fashionable nowadays, and tuning is via buttons. Yuck.
The blue illumination was sexy but not highly legible. You might find yourself leaning and squinting to see if, for instance, that's the front or rear defroster you just turned on. Leaning and squinting while underway definitely are bad.
•Climate control. Too fussy and difficult to find the fine line on a sunny, late-winter day between a little too warm and a bit too cool.
•Drivetrain. Generally good, and a visceral joy under wide-open throttle. But the engine sounded slightly coarse in light duty, and the automatic transmission, so crisp and laudable when spurred hard, flubbed the hard-on, hard-off throttle moves when heavy traffic opened up momentarily, then slammed to a crawl. In such cases, the engine kept revving briefly as if you still had the gas floored. Not a safety issue, though, because the car didn't keep accelerating.
A more powerful four-banger would have been appreciated during high-speed merging onto freeways and when passing on two-lane roads.
Hyundai's mulling a direct-injection gas engine for later but is mum on details. Direct injection usually provides more power and better mileage, so could be a win-win if the noisier character of direct injection can be tamed.
Most people most of the time should find the current engine and transmission suitable.
Elantra might not be the no-brainer home run that Sonata has been in the midsize category, but Elantra's nevertheless a strong contender.
2011 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
•What? Full redesign of the brand's four-door, front-drive, compact sedan.
Available with six-speed manual transmission or six-speed automatic transmission.
Designated "ultra-low-emission vehicle" (ULEV) in most markets, "partial zero-emission vehicle" (PZEV) in markets where stricter clean-air regulations require.
•When? On sale since December.
•Where? Built at Montgomery, Ala.
•Why? Gotta have something fresh to go after the coming redesigned Honda Civic, the heavily marketed new Ford Focus due this spring, the new Chevrolet Cruze and the aging but still popular Toyota Corolla.
•How much? Base model, GLS with manual, starts at $15,550 with $720 shipping.
Top end Limited Premium with automatic, $22,700.
Typically equipped (GLS Preferred with automatic): $18,350.
•How many? 100,000-plus yearly.
•How powerful? 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine rated 148 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 134 pounds-feet of torque at 4,700 rpm (ULEV), or 144 hp at 6,300, 130 lbs.-ft. (PZEV).
•How big? It's at the large end of the compact-car spectrum: 178.3 inches long, 69.9 in. wide, 56.5 in. tall, on a 106.3-in. wheelbase. Weighs 2,661 to 2,877 lbs. based on model, equipment.
Passenger space, 95.6 cubic feet. Trunk holds 14.8 cu. ft.
•How thirsty? Manual and automatic both rated 29 miles per gallon in town, 40 mpg on the highway, 33 mpg in mixed driving.
Trip computer in automatic test cars registered 25.4 mpg in brisk flog around Pennsylvania rural roads, 30.4 mpg in heavy-footed highway use.
Burns regular, tank holds 12.8 gallons.
•Overall: Pleasant, generally satisfying, good value
BREAKING NEWS
HYUNDAI SONATA MOST SHOPPED VEHICLE
in ENTIRE industry
Sonata Has Been on More Shopping Lists than Any Other Vehicle in Seven of the Last Nine Months According to Compete Data
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 22, 2011 –
Lead by Sonata, Hyundai demand continued its momentum with more than 268,000 in market shoppers in January, representing a 21 percent increase from December 2010. The all-new 2011 Elantra was the second most shopped Hyundai model achieving a six-month high in demand and a 39 percent increase from December. Industry wide, January shopper volume (2.8 million) increased 11 percent compared to January 2010, demonstrating the continued recovery in automotive shopping interest.
“Sonata’s ability to attract and engage consumers over the past nine months has been impressive and they have successfully converted many of these shoppers into actual buyers with Sonata sales up 150 percent in January," said Dennis Bulgarelli, director of Automotive at Compete. “Shopping activity for the entire industry is up 11 percent, starting off what we think will be a strong year for the automotive industry.”
Hyundai’s all-new 2011 Sonata represents a modern approach to the traditional midsize sedan segment by using only advanced four-cylinder engines, dynamic design and luxury features offered with Hyundai’s strong value proposition. The Sonata launched with a new Theta II 2.4-liter gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine and in-house six-speed automatic transmission. The vehicle offers class-leading fuel economy of 22 mpg city/35 mpg highway and 198 horsepower standard. Sonata is also available in Turbo and Hybrid versions, with Hybrid achieving class-leading 40 mpg highway fuel economy.
With many safety features, including Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, and Anti-lock Braking System, Sonata was the first midsize car to receive a five-star crash test rating under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new, more stringent 2011 system and an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick honor, placing it in a safety position unsurpassed in the industry.
“A year after its initial launch consumers continue to be attracted to Sonata’s exciting design, best-in-class fuel economy and outstanding residual value,” said Mike O’Brien, vice president, Product and Corporate Planning, Hyundai Motor America. “Starting off the year as the most shopped vehicle, Sonata is picking up right where it left off in 2010, when it set its U.S. sales volume record.”
HYUNDAI Brand Loyalty Replaces Toyota For The #1 Spot, according to Kelly Blue Book's KBB.com
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA - Brand loyalty for HYUNDAI recently surpassed that of Honda and replaced Toyota, allowing HYUNDAI to take the #1 spot among car shoppers, according to the latest Kelley Blu Book's www.kbb.com Market Intelligence Data. Up from third place in Q4 2009, HYUNDAI saw the greatest increase in loyalty in February 2010, with HYUNDAI owners looking at new models within the brand increasing by 10.4% points to 56.3%. Furthermore, according to Kelly Blue Book Values data, throughout the month of February 2010 HYUNDAI outperformed the overall car segment average by a healthy margin. Hyundai values increased 2% month-over-month, relative to a .03% increase for the entire car segment.
In addition to topping brand loyalty, the all new 2011 Sonata was named to kbb.com's 'Top 10 Most-Researched' mainstays such as Accord, Civic, Camry and CR-V.
"2009 marked and unprecedented yea for the Hyundai brand and we are all well posed to keep the momentum going in 2010," said John Krafcik, president and CEO, HYUNDAI Motor America. "With impressive new vehicles like the all-new Sonata and our dedication to deliver stylish, fuel efficient and affordable vehicles, more customers are addign Hyundai models to their shopping lists."
This Kelley Blue Book Market intelligence data analysis examined site traffic to used car trade-in pages and new-car pricing report pages on Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com, and compared loyalty data from Q4 2009 to February 1-28, 2010. The Kelley Blue Book Values data within this release represents month-over-month used-vehicle depreciation percentages.
-Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com
Since 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource (r), has provided vehicle buyers and sellers with the new and used vehicle information they need to accomplish their goals with confidence. The company's top rated web site, www.kbb.com , provides the most up-to-date pricing and values, including the New Car Blue Book(r) Value, which reveals what people are actually paying for new cars. the company also reports vehicle pricing and values via products and services, including software products and the famous Blue Book (r) Official Guide. According to the C.A. Walker Research Solutions, Inc - 2009 spring Automotive Website usefulness Study, kbb.com is the most useful automotive information Web site among new and used car shoppers, and half of online shoppers visit kbb.com. Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com alos is a W3 Gold Award winner, sanctioned by the International academy of Visual Arts. Kbb.com is a leading provider of new car prices, used car Blue Book Values, car reviews, new cars for sale, used cars for sale, and car dealer locations.
2011 HYUNDAI Sonata GLS Tops Popular Competitors, INLCUDING Premium Brands, In ALG Residual Value Index
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA - HYUNDAI's completely redesigned 2011 Sonata that delivers best in class fuel economy and 200 Horsepower is setting the standard for residual values also.... Right out of the box, the Hyunda Sonata GLS with an automatic transmission received and impressive 36 month residual value of 54 percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price from Automotive Lease Guide, the industry benchmark for residual values and a leading provider of data and consulting services to the auto industry. The residual value topped popular competitive 2010 models from Toyota, Nissan, Ford and Chevrolet, in addition to premium brands such as Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. This represents the lowest depreciation in the Midsize Car market. The 2011 Sonata even outperforms Honda, depreciating $640 over a 3 year period less than a comparably equipped 2010 MY Accord. Strong residuals add to Sonata's value equation, indicating higher trade in value for buyers and lower monthly payment for leasees.
The 2011 Sonata represents a modern approach to the traditional midsize sedan segment using 4 cylinder engines, emotional design and luxury features, all combined Hyundai's strong value proposition.
Hyundai Sonata, the game-changing midsize sedan with its emotional ‘Fluidic Sculpture’ design and all four-cylinder engine lineup, was the most-shopped vehicle in January according to data from Compete, a Kantar Media company. Sonata has been on more shopping lists than any other vehicle in the industry in seven of the last nine months, continuing to top perennial leaders like Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Honda Civic and Ford Fusion, according to Compete’s analysis of consumer automotive shopping behavior. "A large part of the Hyundai's momentum is a result of introducing passionate new products like the 2011 Sonata and 2010 Tucson," said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelly Blue Book's kbb.com. "To sustain this momentum, Hyundai should continue to promote it's attractive new-vehicle lineup, solid warranty offer, and strong price-points to new car shoppers."
